Meet the New Girls!

Here we are on our way home from friend Diane's on Monday afternoon.  I put the three new pullets in a roomy crate, and added water and some food.  They came from an... er.... hardscrabble existence, but are in very good health. 

I waited until dusk, when I had turned the coop light off, and closed the pophole and door on the side. 

They came right out of the crate and into the coop proper. and of course, a welcoming committee had to jump down and take a few pecks at them. 

The next morning, this is what I found when I opened the door and everyone else had jumped down and run out. 

The three new girls calmly jumped down and checked things out.  This one was having a drink. 

The pullet behind her is one of the three that Nugget hatched out in the spring.  

I now have five new pullets... translates into 3 dozen more eggs a week when they come into lay. 

And look who took them over once they came outside in the run!  Uh huh!  Buddy's Biggest Baby Boy! 

I think they are going to be good additions to the flock here. 

I have noticed now that the robins are gone from our yard and pasture, so fall is surely in the air. 

I took this picture this morning in the pasture: 

You can just feel it, can't you?  Mist was rising off the ponds at the foot of the hill, and the air was crisp and chilly. 

I'm still in shorts, but not for too long, I hope. 

I cut most of the pasture the last two days, and also the yard.  I've been cutting down sunflowers and tidying the garden... and noticed that I am getting a second flush of blooms from a few perennials. 

This afternoon or evening I hope to work on the project I've been putting off all week, and take some pictures to show you. 

I also have a visit to the audiologist today, to finally find out what is going on with my hearing (old age!) and find out what we can do about it. 

Cross your fingers for me! 

Oh, and word about the tomato posts of the last two days. 

If I had taken the time to really prune those plants, I would have had a LOT more tomatoes from them, especially the Abu Rawans.  Each of the two little tomatoes was nice, but I just don't need that many little ones.  They do make a good sauce. 

Note to self:  Next year, better pruning! 

See you tomorrow! 

Oh, I forgot I had a postcript today: 

3 AM last night: 

A Sunny Monday

The weathermen keep tantalizing us with "chances of rain" but we have had none in days, beyond a sprinkle.  We need it, now, we are 3.5 inches under where we need to be. 

The sun shone on the ripening pears. 

And on the bright zinnias. 

But it was shady in Swamplandia, and the ducks and chickens were so happy. 

We ate some mulberries... only one tree is bearing now, the others have gone by.  These berries are so sweet... I have the purple fingers to prove it. 

We visited the henspa chickens.  

"More of those things!" said Kody. 

And we played. 

We watched Boots and Two show off for Chatterbox. 

Tonight there is a Monday night ballgame, then we have a break while the team goes out of town.  

We'll be locking everyone up in their pens before we go: 

The odd thing is... for all the years we have lived here, we have heard the two coyote packs calling to each other.  We aren't hearing them lately.  We wonder what' up????

Some Chicken Stuff

These are four of the Five Little Roosters.  They were all roosting under the heat lamp last night. 

They do not usually roost there, though they will be a year old next month. 

Here is number five, and this is where they usually roost.  One sleeps INSIDE the nest box... or sometimes, two sleep inside it.  

The others sleep on top. 

Here they are, this morning, out in the cold.  Please note that one of the D'Uccles (the blue birds) has no tail... he molted his and it has not grown back.  You can tell how truly small they are. 

Just before this picture, their red and white brother from another mother, who was the Sixth Little Rooster, but has now moved to the big henhouse where there are HENS, had come over and beaten them up. 

They will stand outside literally in the freezing cold, when they have a warm light and henhouse five feet away.  

The little henhouse, where they live, used to be full of birds, but they are now the last. 

Keith and I talked last night... we have no garage here, except for a single car from the 40's that is clear at the other end of the property from our house, where we store the riding mower and some gardening things.  He has thought of razing the old henhouse and the little red henhouse, where these roosters live, and that he built 8 years ago, and putting a pad and a garage there.  We would not do this right away, but sometime in the next two years.  It's actually a good idea, because a neighbor of ours has built one on his property, and included four stalls at the back of it, that look out into his pasture.  We would do this model, as well.  It would get us a good, tight building, a place for our cars, and a good, warm place to keep some small goats or that elusive pony, and safely.  Turkeys!  By themselves, where they would not irritate chickens! 

This morning, there was a traffic jam in the old henhouse: 

These are the hens whose eggs we can't use... and I have been getting 8 eggs daily from this house. 

This guy, and a fox, a skunk, two possums and two kitties have been getting them.  However, in a few weeks the feeding program will cease. 

I have news for those two hens, though... I am about to move 

Miss Nugget and her nine eggs up to the nursing cage, where the hens are laying above. 

They can spend a few weeks in the nursing cage, and then move outside to the little pen when it is warmer. 

The hens lay daily in the nursing cage, and are going to be ticked off at me... but they are just going to have to find another laying spot, and my guess is, it will be in the box where Nugget has ensconced herself. 

Yesterday, I  made a trip to the feed store in Bonner Springs, where we have traded for years. 

In the parking lot were a mother and daughter, selling eggs.  

In a cage in front of their truck were four ducks that appeared to be Pekin/Buff crosses. 

They were 3 months old, so full grown.  

Any of you that keep ducks know what a pain little tiny ducks are (though cute as can be)... they are snake bait, and hard to keep clean, they spill their waterers constantly. 

These were just the right size.  I had just told Keith yesterday morning that I would like to get some ducks again. 

I spoke to the ladies, and they gave me a card, and we spoke for about ten minutes. Keith will help me carry one of the two unused dog houses from the pasture pen or the little henyard, and we will put it in the new henspa yard.  I'll load it with straw, and move a fortex in there for the duckies to enjoy. 

When I have everything set up, I'll call the ladies.  If they have sold the ducks, I'll ask them to keep their eyes out for more... and I'll proceed to look for a pair.  I don't want to breed, I want hens for their lovely eggs and their "duckiness".  I love to watch ducks potter along in water, digging their little holes and being happy with their tails wagging. 

It's 12:49 PM, and the snow has not started yet... indeed, it actually looks "less gray" than it did an hour ago! 

We are, however, still supposed to get 3-6 inches this afternoon into tonight.  I am going to try to get to church at four, anticipating that I will not be able to get out of the driveway tomorrow. 

I read a wonderful blog post this morning, here: 

http://www.morningramble.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-power-of-sentence.html

Morning Ramble is written by Patty Lockwood, who lives in Texas.  I have often found inspiration there. 

She focuses this morning on ONE sentence... it is a remarkable one, and I'll let you go there and read about it. 

By the way, Keith came home from work last night and deliberately came up our road from the south... there, in Roxanne's driveway (for the animals have the run of her entire several-acres yard) were the strutting Jackson, the strutting white tom turkey, a strutting peacock, a group of guineas and some chickens. 

We both had to laugh... we are so happy that our turkeys are so happy! 

Thank you, Roxanne! 

And that's it for a gray Saturday at Calamity Acres. 

The Return of Winter

As Keith calls it, it "snained" today... a snow/rain mixture. 

Yes, the official last day of winter, plus, they are telling us another storm is behind it and we can expect an inch or two on Thursday into Friday.  I am not complaining (much) because we can use every last bit of moisture... but it is getting tiresome. 

I don't want 86 degree days, either, right now... just normal spring days so I can get the garden in and work on tidying up the yard. 

Here's Abby with me this afternoon, watching HLN. 

She likes to sleep with her head hanging off the couch. 

I am still dithering about the turkeys, so am going to stop by my friend's tomorrow and check to see how they are doing.  I don't want them back, I just want to make sure they settled in. 

Crazy, I know. 

We didn't get much done outside today because of the snow and rain, so not much to report on the gardening front, but I have got all three of the tomatoes up now, and had to remove the plastic cover, because two of the seedlings were actually pressing on it.  

I'll take a picture of them tomorrow. 

Abu Rawan from Baker Creek was the first up, followed by Gypsy, and SuperSauce.  I am keeping close records of each variety this year. 

None of my perennial seeds has stuck it's head up yet, but they are 7 to 21 days to germination on that side. We are going to bring in my old crafting table and set it up in the office, so I can start four more trays of seedlings. 

Oops.  Abs got stuck on the coop side of the old henhouse... the feed room side is where Butch lives, and his friends come back and forth through the hole in the door that you see here. 

That's it for gardening news today at Calamity Acres. 

Here's a couple of pictures from last night... and Ian and Cheyenne, if you read this, feeding is about to cease until next winter, and we aren't letting the chickens out in the pasture.  However, I think two little goat wethers are about to come into our lives, so we need to deter the predators at this point. 

They get the eggs we can't give away anymore. 

We have seen that there is a lot of living and let living amongst the wildings. 

Two Short Videos

Something spooked both of these girls last night.  We have not seen the coyote with the hurt leg since the beginning of the week, and are wondering what has happened to him. 

I forgot to tell you, but Wednesday I was very ill with flu-like symptoms, and went out to lock up after dark... it was raining...and right in front of me not ten feet, and ... not ten feet off the ground, flew the owl!  So close I could almost reach out and touch it!  It went across the yard and up into the old walnut tree.  I went to get Keith so he could see it in the spotlight, but by the time I got him up and out on the deck, it had moved off again.  I am trying to figure out a way to put the camera on top of one of the higher posts, or attached to the side, because he uses the posts all the time to watch the pasture. 

They also were not the first visitors, but the camera didn't record who was first... was it Hurt Leg?  Or the possums who come nightly? 

What We Saw

Early  this morning, Lilly was at the bedroom window, next to my ear, quietly growling out the slightly-opened window.  I mumbled to her... I was really out of it for once... and after a few low barks, heard Keith get up and let her out.  He always put his glasses on before going to the door... and he said that she ran to the middle of the yard like a shot... then straight over to the fenceline where the little henhouse is. 

 

Ranger went with her. 

 

This morning, we overslept and I went to a later church service.  Before I left... we brought the game camera in.

 

When you look at these pictures, subtract an hour, because I forgot to re-set the camera clock last night.

 

Here's Mr. Possum, just after dark.

 

 

And Mr. Fox coming...

 

 

And going....

 

 

And Mr. Possum or his brother back at 9:49.

 

 

 

 

Look closely, folks, this is NOT Mr. Fox.  This is the first time that we have, for sure, seen a fine speciman of coyote in our pasture.  It looks healthy, doesn't it?  Notice it was 5:48 AM when it visited... and you can't tell but the little chickens in the pen behind it were already awake and up.  At least one of them was keeping an eye on it, you can just barely see the eye reflected in the light of the flash to the left of the coyote's tail.

 

I had the camera intervals set two minutes apart, so I don't think it was here for long... but I think Lilly could sense how close it was.

 

Another
"Christmas link" for you to look at....

 

Go here for a good idea to do with simple yard sale gift baskets... we have made these for years, but now are going to use the suggested tag on the post... and ask people to "Pay them Forward" in the spirit of fellowship!  What a grand idea!